The following was submitted by the Belleville Senators.
The Belleville Senators put forth a valiant effort as they earned another significant point in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Syracuse Crunch on Friday night at Upstate Medical University Arena.
Just over a minute into the contest, Syracuse opened the scoring through Gage Goncalves. Only 43 seconds later, the Crunch extended their advantage as Gabriel Fortier scored. On that same play, Senators netminder Dylan Ferguson was forced to leave the game with an injury and was replaced by Kevin Mandolese.
Later in the period, Belleville would get on the board as Egor Sokolov capitalized on a rebound with the man advantage before Cole Cassels equalized on a friendly bounce for his eighth of the season. The Senators’ continued their tallying as Jake Lucchini notched his American Hockey League-leading fourth shorthanded marker of the season to give the visitors a 3-2 lead after twenty minutes of play.
In the middle stanza, Syracuse forward Alex Barré-Boulet would even the score at 3-3 on the power play.
Early into the third, the Crunch built on their strong offensive showing after both Jack Finley and Felix Robert found the back of the net. However, Belleville wouldn’t go away quietly, as Angus Crookshank scored his 25th of the campaign. Moments later, the Senators once again drew equal when Cassels notched his second of the game to ultimately force extra time.
Following an exciting overtime, the Crunch secured their hard-fought home victory in the shootout.
The Senators return to action tomorrow night when they host the Toronto Marlies, with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m from a sold-out CAA Arena.
Sens On Special Teams:
Power Play: 1/2 | Penalty Kill: 4/5
Fast Facts:
- Kevin Mandolese made 35 saves in relief
- Jake Lucchini recorded his 100th career point with the Belleville Senators.
- Cole Cassels, Angus Crookshank, Maxence Guenette, Dillon Heatherington and Egor Sokolov all had multi-point efforts.
